Anti-trespass panels
Anti-trespass panels (ATPs) are a type of hostile architecture used by railroads to improve safety by reducing pedestrian accidents.
They consist of materials such as wood or rubber arranged in such a way that they are difficult to walk on stably, and are placed adjacent to pedestrian crossings or stations, where there is a possibility that people might trespass on the railroad's right-of-way and be struck and killed or seriously injured by passing trains.
Modern variants, introduced in the early 2000s, used rubber shaped into pyramids, and later cones, a configuration that has led to the nickname witches' hats.
In 2014, the European Railway Agency found that suicides accounted for 70 percent of all rail-related fatalities; other trespassers accounted for another 18 percent;[10] in the U.S., engineers have reported, and cab cameras on trains have shown, that in almost a quarter of pedestrian-train collisions the former is lying or sitting on the tracks, suggesting an indifference or intent to be struck despite an absence of any other indicator of suicidal intent.
[11][a] Other common reasons for pedestrians to be on or too near to tracks include convenience of travel, either at crossings or along rights-of-way, socializing, thrill-seeking such as train surfing and recreational walking.
[b] Tracks have also become commonly used as settings for photography and video for social media, as well as feature films such as Midnight Rider, left unfinished after a camera assistant was killed by a freight train.
Engineers often suffer psychological trauma that requires at least 4.4 days off work; rescue workers, railway employees and any eyewitnesses may also experience similar effects.
In the US, freight carrier BNSF, the second largest railroad in the country, reported that in 2003 its police removed or arrested 23,200 trespassers, against 111 killed or injured.
These were based on cattle grids, long used around the world to prevent grazing livestock from straying off their pasture, or onto tracks or roads where they might be injured or killed in collisions.
The design ultimately derives from stiles of stone slats placed to facilitate human passage over pits that developed on public footpaths in Britain, a practice that predates Roman times.
[18] In 2013 Rosehill introduced a refined version of the panels at that year's Railtex show in London based on feedback from railroads around the world that had used them.
But that year, Canada's Metrolinx, which operates the GO Transit commuter rail service in the Greater Toronto area, had its panels made with conical obstacles instead after consultation with the manufacturer, as it believed those were harder to walk on.
[c] It has been recommended that the panels be installed in strips at least 3 meters (9 ft) wide to deter potential trespassers from attempting to circumvent them by jumping.
Conversely, if a train must stop for emergency reasons and discharge passengers between stations, it may be difficult for them to reach safety without similar temporary removal of the panels or escape routes in any fencing adjacent to the tracks.
They may then, particularly if they do so while under the influence of drugs or alcohol[4] (the latter of which research has suggested is a factor in a majority of pedestrian fatalities[11]: 6 ), become trapped in the right-of-way and unable to free themselves from a train's path should one come along.
Network Rail, station operator Southern and the British Transport Police worked together to raise awareness in the community and also installed CCTV to monitor the area.
It installed panels at six locations on the country's rail network[f] where there had been trespassing issues due to either nearby yards, a station close to a grade crossing, or, in one case, a short tunnel frequently used as a shortcut by residents.
[5]: 11–12 [g] Applying a cost-benefit analysis, the study concluded that implementing anti-trespass panels across the Swedish rail network would save the system SEK 427,000 a year.
[i] It worked with the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad (A&M), a short line operating in those states, to identify areas where trespassing had been a problem for a test of the panels.
[3]: 15 The West Dickson Street crossing is in an area of Fayetteville adjacent to the main University of Arkansas campus that is the city's primary entertainment district, with many shops, restaurants and bars.
[3]: 8–9 After the 10-week study periods in fall of 2014 and 2015, both of which included the same number of home football game weekends, the FRA found that, overall, there was a 38 percent overall decrease in trespassers following the installation of the panels.
